Category: Popular Culture

“Looks like you boys could use some water.” I can’t resist ending 2015 with a little boasting. This week, I gained admittance to a very select club. According to legend, Zach Galifianakis, Brad Paisley,...

It’s a visit to the lighter side of philosophy in popular culture this week with a look at the recent “Epic Rap Battle” production “Eastern Philosophers versus Western Philosophers.” The popular YouTube franchise ERB...

Please enjoy this repost of my modernization of Plato’s classic dialog “The Ion.” Please note, all dialogue is directly based on the original. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” proclaimed an unseen voice. “Welcome to the Socrates...

Some of you may have enjoyed my recent repost of my popular essay “Kierkegaard’s Narrative“, about the influence of Christian existentialist Søren Kierkegaard on several popular books and movies (notably including High Fidelity). For...

For many people, the main appeal of George Lucas’ “Star Wars” movies is the “Jedi Way,” the philosophy/religion that guides the mystical Jedi knights. But where does this philosophy come from, and does it hold up under scrutiny?

"Kierkegaard's Narrative" is an existential humanist plot outline named after the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. In general, it runs as follows: An aimless young man drifts through life, obsessed with aesthetics, and seeking sexual fulfillment with a series of women, yet never making substantive choices or real commitments. The climax of the story is the protagonist's decision to commit to a single woman, and to enter into marriage.

The raw source material for this plotline is found in Kierkegaard's books "Either/Or," "Fear and Trembling," and "Repetition," in which he takes on the persona of various first-person narrators, and describes their experiences.

If there’s one pop culture obsession I truly hate, it’s zombies. I fail entirely to see the appeal of these grotesque, rotting corpses, reanimated into some blasphemous parody of life. The same goes for...